Surf's up! - San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

As always, getting to San Juan del Sur was something special.  We arrived at the boarder of Nicaragua after a long (very long) day of traveling.  It was dark. It was muddy. It was full of semi-trucks waiting the apparently long wait to cross the boarder.  We filled out our immigration papers, just as we have each time before, and were able to get our exit stamps with no fuss.  We walked the 600 yards to the next office and received our entry stamps.  Immediately upon crossing into Nicaragua (or getting off a bus, or walking out of a building, or looking like a gringo), we were bombarded with taxi drivers.  There were no more buses running, so a taxi was our only option.  Sean was able to negotiate a reasonable price to get us the 45 minutes from the boarder to San Juan del Sur.  We followed the "taxi driver" to his car - an old, busted up car, parked under what looked like a house car port.  The windshield had two large strips of dark tinting - one at the top and one at the bottom - leaving only a third of the windshield clear.  Next time you get into your car at night, I want you to look through the windshield and ask yourself:  "Self, could I drive this car with a view through only the middle third of the windshield?"...Now, of course you probably could.  But WHO, in their right mind, would get into an unmarked, dilapidated taxi like that?  Me. Obviously.  We start down the road in the pitch black, racing past every other vehicle on the road as if the driver were trying to beat his previous "best time".  To take my mind off of the certain death ahead, I watched a storm in the distance light up the sky in hues of white, grey, and purple, occasionally giving a glimpse of the windmills and trees we flew passed.

We eventually arrived in San Juan del Sur and checked into a hostel for the night.  We changed hostels the next morning to a little place called Hospedaje Nina.  Nina is a small, older Nica woman who was extremely friendly and helpful.  She was excited to meet an Irishman and tell him about her travels to Belfast 6 years ago.  She was fantastic!  The next day, we walked around San Juan, which had a small town, hippie-surfer feel too it.  It was quite a cool place!  There were plenty of places to eat or enjoy a nice Nicaraguan beer, Toña (in the form of liter bottles, of course).  A small gelato place down the street from the hostel proved to be a favorite of mine.  There were also several places to get delicious, fresh smoothies for less than $2!

...And we saw a little "marching band" - which constisted of a bunch of girls carrying maces, kids playing drums, and a single trumpet player.

On the hill to the north of the bay stood a giant (78 ft tall) Jesus statue - "Christ of the Mercy".  

The hike to the top is not for the faint-hearted.  The roads are INCREDIBLY steep.  I almost rolled back down a few times ..

..but the views from the top are spectacular!

I also learned to surf!!!  I took a lesson through a hostel called Casa Oro.  It was $25 for about 3 hours worth of time with the Brazilian instructor. He was awesome!  I did much better than I expected and have already began planning my surfing career.  This may be one of my favorite sports now!

..and of course, we enjoyed the beautiful sunsets over the bay..

This town is amazing!  I would be happy enough spending the rest of my trip here, surfing...but 5 days was all the time we had.  Until next time, San Juan del Sur.  Peace out.

~Jac